Liam Lawson opened up about the challenges of returning to Red Bull Racing despite securing his first points with the team with P7 at the 2026 F1 Dutch GP.
The Kiwi driver was promoted to Red Bull for the Zandvoort weekend after Isack Hadjar was ruled out with a hand injury, with Yuki Tsunoda stepping in at Racing Bulls. Despite having little time to adapt, Lawson kicked off his weekend with P11 in both the Sprint Qualifying and the Sprint Race before taking P8 in Qualifying.
A strong start in Sunday’s race allowed him to briefly challenge his teammate Max Verstappen before the four-time World Champion found the wall at the end of the opening lap. Lawson went on to complete two pit stops, ultimately finishing P7, despite receiving a 10-second penalty for failing to slow under yellow flags during the second Virtual Safety Car period.
Lawson on his weekend at Red Bull Racing
Reflecting on his weekend at Red Bull Racing at the 2026 F1 Dutch GP, Lawson shared in the print media pen that he was pleased with his performance, despite admitting that the car lacked the pace needed to challenge those ahead.
“Yeah, I mean, I’m sure there’s things that I can do better in the race and I’ll try and reflect on it. But in terms of positions, I don’t think we had the speed to match the guys in front. So I feel like we knew that after yesterday as well. Quali was, you know, for both of us behind them [three teams].
“So, yeah, but it’s been a good weekend,” he continued. “It was good to extract everything out of Quali yesterday. It’s been tough to try and get my head around this car in a short space of time, but I’ve enjoyed it.”
Opening lap chaos
Asked about how tricky the opening lap was, with Verstappen losing control of his car in the wet part of the track at turn 14, Lawson said:
“Just impossible. I mean, the whole first half of the lap was dry and then the last few corners were completely soaked. So, yeah, really easy, obviously, to do that when you have this much power and on a slick tyre. But, yeah, for us, we just… I really lifted out of it, sort of, because I could honestly… I had no confidence in how much grip we were going to have there. And I think Max was probably trying to get closer and make an overtake and just lost it.”
The difficult conditions were already evident before the race, with the drivers completing the formation lap behind the Safety Car before the standing start.
However, Lawson questioned the decision.
“I don’t know why we had the safety car,” he began. “To do a standing start and also do a lap behind the safety car makes no sense. So, I’m not sure what the reasoning of that was. But I feel like we could all see that coming. We were all probably saying the same thing before when we got the news. But we don’t have control over that.”
Red Bull Racing vs. Racing Bulls
Lawson also discussed the differences between the Red Bull and Racing Bulls cars under the 2026 regulations, explaining that adapting to the RB22 has presented a challenge in terms of driver comfort.
“I mean, there’s always things that… I mean, the car is completely different, obviously, aerodynamically. And, as well, there’s always things that, you know, personally as drivers, we try and make our cars comfortable for us. And there’s some things that, when you switch a car for a weekend, you can’t just automatically change those things. So, there’s stuff in this car that aren’t the same as mine in terms of just driver comfort that I’ve had to get my head around without being too specific. But that’s stuff that has probably been the most challenging.”
The 24-year-old previously raced for Red Bull in the opening two rounds of the 2025 season after Red Bull promoted him from Racing Bulls. However, he struggled to match the team’s expectations, retiring from the Australian GP before finishing P12 in China. Red Bull subsequently moved Lawson back to their junior team, with Yuki Tsunoda taking his place.
Asked about the differences between Red Bull’s 2025 car and its 2026 challenger, Lawson briefly shared how difficult it is for him to make a direct comparison due to the regulation changes, as well as never having driven Melbourne or Shanghai previously before those races last year.
“I mean, honestly, with how last year was, with those two weekends, the way those weekends played out, being two tracks I’d never done, I honestly still don’t think I even have an opinion on what that car was to drive. I feel like I got more comfortable in this in a weekend. So, yeah, it’s very hard to compare.”
